Worldwide Wednesday: Trans-Pacific Train Wreck?

If you haven’t heard much about the TPP, that’s part of the problem right there. It would be the largest trade deal in history — involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and accounting for 40 percent of the world economy – yet it’s been devised in secret, even thought Bernie Sanders has requested detail.

Big corporations and Wall Street want more international protection when it comes to their intellectual property and other assets. So they’ve been “seeking trade rules that secure and extend their patents, trademarks, and copyrights abroad, and protect their global franchise agreements, securities, and loans.” But they also want “less protection of consumers, workers, small investors, and the environment, because these interfere with their profits. So they’ve been seeking trade rules that allow them to override these protections.”

Since this deal has been drafted by lobbyists, the TPP provides exactly this mix.